WATCH: Florida schools banning cheerleaders from wearing uniforms during school because they are 'too vulgar'

3 years ago

School spirit is taking a back seat to fashion propriety in Florida, where a school district is banning its own cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during the school day.

As first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, the Pinellas School District is refusing to allow cheerleaders at a number of its schools from wearing their uniforms during the school day. According to upset parents, it was decided that the uniforms were against the district's dress code because the sleeveless tops and short skirts that are universally identified with school cheerleaders are deemed "too vulgar."

According to Clearwater (Fl.) Countryside High Principal Gary Schlereth, allowing the cheerleaders to wear their uniforms maintains a double standard for other students who might then feel it was acceptable to wear shorter skirts than they are allowed.

"A parent looks at their son or daughter getting 'dress coded' for wearing something short," Schlereth told the Times. "Then they look at the cheerleading uniform and they say, 'What about that?'"

"The girls are there to promote the school," Norma Fraser, whose daughter Jeana Fraser is a sophomore cheerleader on the varsity squad at Countryside, told ABC News Tampa Bay. "My daughter loves Countryside. She wants this to be a positive thing and she wants to keep the tradition and so do I."